Ben Carson: Destroying King’s Dream
by Contributing Writer(s) 09/24/2015Educate, Organize and Mobilize – Over the past few weeks I’ve written about the campaign of Dr. Ben Carson, Black Republican candidate for President of the United States. Several weeks ago I alerted our readers that much of what I write going forth will be somewhat redundant. However, all of my articles will strive to offer different perspectives on redundant information. Such is the case this week.
There are compelling reasons to restate ideas and information when the objective is to educate our audience on the complex and important topic of voter suppression. This week I’ll reference articles that I wrote in 2013 and in January of this year. Both articles (See links 1 & 2 below) address various aspects of how Black Republicans, Ben Carson included, are conspiring to deny Black voters access to the ballot box and the right to vote. This is a right that Dr. Martin Luther King gave his life for. The Republicans have an ongoing commitment to restricting voting rights.
Accusing Black Republicans of a conspiracy to deny Blacks the right to vote is a serious charge. However, the facts support the charge and they’ve not acknowledged the accusation or engaged in any conduct that would tend to dispute it. The accusations of them being historical revisionist is one of the easiest charges to prove. While rightfully labeling the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, they imply that today’s Republicans support policies toward Blacks that are consistent with those President Lincoln supported. This implication is an outright, purposeful deception.
When the Republican Party was founded in the 1850’s it was founded as the abolitionist party, with the avowed purpose of ending slavery and guaranteeing Black slaves full rights of citizenship, including the right to vote. The current Republican attack on Black voting rights is a complete reversal of the founding principles of their own party. Black Republicans intentionally avoid speaking to these contradictions between the original and current policies of their party and purposely engage in misleading rhetoric about a Republican party of a bygone era.
The historical Party of Lincoln freed Black slaves, granted them citizenship under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteed them “equal protection” under the 14th Amendment, passed the Civil Rights Acts of 1866, and instituted Reconstruction immediately after slavery. They were committed to and promoted true and meaningful “affirmative action.” Today, Carson and his allies oppose affirmative action, except for themselves. Today’s Republicans seek to undo and reverse the progressive policies of the Civil Rights Movement and have thrown Black communities into a “Third Reconstruction.”
Doctor Ben Carson continues in the long line of current Black Republicans that are aiding and abetting voter suppression and attempting to kill and bury the 1965 Voting Rights Act. They’re helping to re-implement Jim Crow era voting laws that lasted nearly one-hundred years and included, among other things, literacy test, poll taxes, “Grandfather Clauses” fear and intimidation. These policies were horrible when they existed during Jim Crow and the prospect of re-enacting them is equally horrible.
Carson and the gang, claim that their party was the home of President Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Booker T. Washington, and President Dwight Eisenhower. “Was” is the most accurate word that they use and denotes a party that once represented the legitimate aspirations of Black people that included economic justice, social justice and equal protection of the laws. That party is long gone and has been replaced with the Obama hating party of the “tea party” and “birthers.” They are actively destroying King’s dream.
As I asked last week and many other times, why would Black voters support candidates that are hard at work trying to destroy Martin Luther King’s dream and his greatest accomplishment, the Voting Rights Act of 1965? If voters are timely and properly educated, they’ll turn out to vote and not fall for the Carson/GOP’s deceptions. If not, we face more repressive laws and policies that originated in slavery and Jim Crow.
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Peter Grear, Esq. writes for Greater Diversity News and www.thethirdreconstruction.com with a primary focus on political, social and economic justice. To support our efforts, to unite our politics and economics, please “Like” and follow us at www.facebook.com/ThirdReconstruction. Please “Share” our articles and post your ideas and comments on Facebook or at our websites www.GreaterDiversity.com and www.thethirdreconstruction.com. Finally, please ask all of your Facebook “Friends” to like and follow our pages. (September 24, 2015).
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